Bad Moon Rising
by YouAndIWillAlwaysBeBackThen
Summary: Allison, a girl who's anxious and timid, ends up getting involved with the Avengers when SHIELD sends people to look for her. My Avengers fanfiction, it's super good :)
1. Chapter 1

_The room is dark and damp. The smell of dirt and decay fills the air, as this room is intentionally unkempt and dirty. How old is this room? How many people have been here before me?_

_Suddenly, a beam of light shines into the room and I'm blinded by it. The door is opening and in comes another person to fear. He wears a hospital mask, the kind a doctor would wear into surgery or if someone was sick._

_But he wasn't a doctor. Doctors help you._

_This man was here to hurt me._

_Needles... blood being drawn from my tiny delicate arm... a shot with who knows what in it... they've been giving me these mystery shots for months. What was the purpose of them? Seemingly endless pain._

_When will it end? I think to myself._

_Why won't they kill me already?_

_I've gotta get out of here-_

Suddenly, jerking in a terrified breath she snapped awake, looking around the room. She was at home, or what she called home for now. The Women's Crisis Center isn't exactly a place someone should call home, but it is for now.

It had been almost two years since she had arrived there, and in addition to getting a job as a waitress at the local mom and pop family diner, she had been saving up to buy her own affordable one bedroom home. Manhattan was a big city and hopefully, she'd be able to live comfortably after these next few weeks. The people at the women's shelter were incredibly understanding of her situation when she first came in and had been helping her ever since.

When she was eighteen, some woman had found her unconscious in a ditch, unable to remember much about herself besides her age and name. It was odd, she slowly over time started to remember a few things about herself, like a few of her favorite movies and what her mom looked like, but not her name. Sometimes songs would come on the radio and shed suddenly remember the lyrics. She had a gnarly case of amnesia and no one could figure out why. That didn't stop her from going out and getting a job, so she could live her life the way she wanted to. The women's shelter was nice but it was mostly for victims of abuse, and she felt like a burden being there any longer when it wasn't even really clear why she was there in the first place. By now she remembered a lot, or at least a lot of what she thought she must've known about herself before.

Now, it was time to get ready for work.

Work was boring... but she liked her bosses, Mr and Mrs. Alice and Dale Stevenson, both were very sweet and giving. They almost took her under their wing after hiring her, treating her like an adopted daughter in a way. They'd let her keep all her tips, since they knew she was saving up to get her own place, and even bought her a birthday present once or twice.

Tara, Jessica and Caleb were the waitresses/waiter she used to work with the majority of the time and all of them had grown quite close over the two year span of working together. She was closest to Tara out of the three and she felt like she could tell her anything without being judged, which was nice. Jessica was sort of her friend and Caleb... Caleb had the most amazing blonde hair and blue eyes she had ever seen. He used to shyly hide behind his glasses, a lot like she did but a few months ago he took them off and never went back. They always subtly flirt with each other, but it never really went anywhere until a few months ago... she had been invited over to Caleb's house along with Tara and Jess for a party. One thing led to another after a couple of drinks and... they hooked up. A couple of times actually.

Before she knew it, she was completely hung up on him, thinking she was in love. Jess would tease her about it and Tara would gush behind Caleb's back that they were secretly the perfect couple, even though they technically weren't official. Official. The word could be ice cold if used the right way. Caleb was a good guy, but Jessica... Jessica wasn't as nice of a person as she made herself out to be.

Needless to say and fortunately enough for her, Caleb and Jessica quit their jobs and decided to become employees elsewhere, which made it a lot easier to avoid further confrontation.

She was behind the counter at work now, writing down orders on her notepad and taking them back to the cook. The restaurant was somewhat nineteen fifties theme, and each crew member had an unspoken dress code where they dressed like they were from the era. Today, she had her hair in a ponytail, wore a long sleeved sweater, with a long circle skirt that went down to her ankles, black heels (which was different, since she almost never wore heels, always sneakers) and a pair of fancy white dainty gloves with a lace trim. She always wore gloves, and often wore different ones almost every single day. Coworkers and people who saw her in their everyday life never saw her without gloves on, strangely enough.

"Allison! One cheeseburger and a side of fries, with a Cola! Hot and ready!" The cook called to her through the window that separated the cashier's counter and the kitchen from each other. Allison grabbed the plate and soda and handed it to Tara with a smile,

"I believe that's table number seven."

"Alrighty!" Tara picked up the platter with the goods and dashed towards the table happily, completely happy and content with how her life was. Allison didn't quite feel the same way.

Allison was always bored with everyday life. She couldn't remember her childhood much, besides bits and pieces, but as an adult, going to work, paying bills and living a mediocre life wasn't enough for her. She wanted more. It's like achieving the normal things in life was taking a bite out of an apple, and she wanted the whole apple.

"Hey sweetie," a man who was sitting on a stool just a few feet away asked and Allison rolled her eyes, feeling her whole body heat up with anxiety.

"Yes?" She asked, a tone of irritability in her voice. Even if the customers were pigs, she still had to be nice.

"Why don't you give me your number and I can take you out for a night on the town some time soon?"

Allison scanned the man to who was speaking to her. He was a middle aged man, who was starting to bald and had a gut. She felt insulted that he even had the gull to speak to her in such a way.

_Is this a part of your mid life crisis? Did your wife just divorce you? _Were among the things she wanted to say back to him. But she couldn't. This mom and pop restaurant was very keen on keeping a good image for itself and normally, Caleb would keep the creeps off of her but he didn't work there anymore. Tara was so preoccupied with the table she was serving, she didn't notice what was going on. Other people in the restaurant were, looking over and eyeballing the situation without saying a word.

"Aha, no, thank you," Allison told the man and turned away, getting ready to try and help someone else out.

"Come on, don't be a tease..."

This time he was being condescending and arrogant, and you could clearly hear it in his voice. Allison wanted to hold her tongue but could no longer,

"I'm out of your league."

A man at the other end of the counter, sitting on the stool closest to the door had a newspaper spread across to each hand and snickered at what she had said. Allison and the creepy man turned to look at him and his eyes widened behind thick glasses, then he buried his face behind the paper as to not be seen.

"Come on, doll face. I know how girls like you are... how about a twenty for-" He started to spout and Allison snapped off again,

"Let me just stop you right there... are you gonna order something or not? Because if you aren't that's soliciting and I'm gonna have to ask you to leave."

"Well, I was trying to, before you so rudely shut me down." The older man was starting to get agitated and Allison was close to blowing her top off at this guy, whether her job was in jeopardy or not. She planted both her hands down and leaned down, close enough so she could say something just to him and everyone wouldn't hear,

"Listen, buddy. I'm not some two cent whore. I'm a cashier, a waitress and a woman. Stop what you're doing right now or you can get the hell out."

Without warning, the man slammed his hand down on the counter and with the other he grabbed her by her wrist,

"You can't talk to me like that!"

Allison gasped with shock because of how unexpected and fast the situation escalated, her eyes wide with fear.

"Hey!" The man at the end of the table with the glasses had laid his newspaper on the counter and stood up from his stool, glaring at the older man with crossed arms. "Let her go!"

Tara was at full attention now, realizing what was going on, coffee pot in hand.

"You better leave now or I'm calling the police."

Tara looked mad and so did the man with the glasses, and the whole restaurant had turned to look at the pig of a man, who still had a hold of Allison's wrist. He let go, realizing how bad everything looked.

"Fine. Stupid broad." The man stood up fast and quickly walked out the door without looking at anyone, obviously embarrassed that everyone noticed how horrible he was acting.

"Are you okay?" Tara walked behind the counter, looking at Allison's wrist and she nodded her head with a sigh,

"Yeah. Him grabbing me just caught me off guard..."

"I'll call Dale and tell him what happened, you can go home and have the rest of the day off, okay?" Tara looked like she was on the verge of tears and Allison widened her eyes,

"Are you sure?"

Tara brushed it off and nodded her head, "Yeah, I can hold down the fort on my own."

The man with the glasses left his newspaper at his seat and walked over, "I'm sorry about the way that guy acted towards you. He's a real piece of work..."

"It's okay," Allison took off her apron and sighed, "Thank you... for standing up to him. No one else really knew what to do, and you were the only one to actually do something about it."

"Absolutely no problem. I hate guys like that." He was being so friendly to her.

"Want me to call you a cab?" Tara asked and Allison shook her head,

"No, I'm gonna walk."

Tara looked at her, wide eyed and surprised like she was shocked she would even do such a thing. "Really!? You can't walk home after what just happened. Not alone!"

"If you're okay with it, I could walk you home." The man with the glasses offered and Allison felt herself blush red hot. Tara raised her eyebrows with surprise and then turned away, as if trying not to eavesdrop on the situation.

"You don't have to do that..." Allison felt so bashful and he shook his head,

"No, I insist. I'm done with my coffee anyhow."

Allison was sort of put off. Not only did he jump to her defense when that guy was hitting on her, but now he was being nice enough to walk her home...

"O-okay... let me just get my coat from the back."

"I'll meet you outside." He smiled and stepped out the door, the bell at the top jingling as he went. Tara looked over at Allison and smiled gleefully, starting to get excited,

"Finally! A guy that isn't creepy or weird! Maybe you'll get lucky for once!"

"Tara! I don't even know the guy... jeez!" Allison blushed bashfully and ran to the back to grab her coat.

"Come on, Ally! Every since Ca-" she started to say but Allison shot her a warning glare.

"_Okay..._ every since you got your heart broken, you've completely shut any potential love interests out of your line of sight... like that really cute guy that came in the other day-"

"I could tell, he wasn't my type." Allison rolled her eyes and quickly got her jacket on.

"Oh come on! You didn't even talk to the guy! I was the one that took his order!" Tara tried to insist and Allison wrinkled her nose, stepping out the door,

"See you tomorrow, Tara!"

"So... how long have you lived in Manhattan for?" He asked and Allison felt herself start to break out into a cold sweat,

"Um... god, this is gonna sound so weird..."

"What is it?" He asked and she sighed a tired sigh,

"I actually don't know. It's a really long story and I don't feel like getting into it... to make a long story short, something probably bad happened to me and I don't remember any of it."

He nodded his head and then pushed his glasses up on his nose as if he were thinking, "I guess whatever happened, it was so traumatizing it caused you to have dissociative amnesia. I'm assuming the doctors already told you that though."

"How did you know that? Are you some sort of doctor or something?" Allison asked with wide eyes and he nodded again with a chuckle,

"Well, I guess technically no... I did go to medical school for quite a while but I left just before graduation."

Allison seemed impressed and pressed the button on the traffic light so they could cross the crosswalk, "That's cool... I feel like I could be a nurse if I wanted to, but I'm squeamish. If I saw too much blood I might faint."

"Yeah, that stuff is pretty gross." He agreed with a chuckle and the two walked together happily, Allison towards her home and him happily following and escorting her there. She looked over at him every once in a while and for some reason, he was smiling a lot. More than most people did, and it was contagious in a way, making her smile too. Allison waited for the walk signal and started to cross the road again, but this time a reckless driver was running a red light and heading straight for her. She turned to see the driver and cried out with fear, when he suddenly ran forward and grabbed her arm, pulling her out of the way just in time. The two fell down, onto the crosswalk together, luckily landing on their butts and out of breath at what had just happened. Allison head a beeping noise and turned to see the man, clutching his chest and then checking his watch nervously.

"Are you alright?" She asked him and he nodded his head, trying to control his breathing.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

The two stood up from off of the ground and Allison brushed off her coat, looking over at him curiously, "What's with the watch, if you don't mind me asking?"

"It's actually a heart rate monitor." He wiped his hair out of his face and Allison raised an eyebrow,

"Are you sick?"

"No... I just have a... a condition, that's all." The two finished crossing the crosswalk and Allison paused in front of her home. Bruce looked confused for a moment and then pointed at the building,

"Wait... you live in the women's shelter?"

"...yeah...? No one could figure out what happened to me, so they brought me here, in case someone bad was looking for me." Allison felt awkward now and the two stood in silence for a moment. Until she broke it,

"Thank you... for walking me home."

"Absolutely no problem... after what happened I wanted to make sure you were gonna be okay." He was so insistent and polite, like this was the right thing to do and even thanking him wasn't necessary whatsoever.

"It was nice meeting you..." He smiled and paused for a moment and she felt herself almost face palm, "Oh! I'm Allison..."

"Bruce." He told her his name back and the two smiled at each other one final time before parting ways. Allison watched him walk away and leaned back against the building, breathing out a breath of relief after what had just happened.

_Why is it that when my life isn't boring for once, it's almost always bad?_ She thought to herself and looked over to see Bruce had already left her sight, nowhere to be seen. She didn't get a last name or a number even... she probably wouldn't even see him again, since New York was so big, he might not even live in the area around the restaurant or anywhere close. Once again, she blew it... Tara was right, as usual.

Allison stopped her negative thoughts and walked through the front door of the women's shelter, hoping to push all previous thoughts to the side for more important things.


	2. Chapter 2

p style="margin-bottom: .25in; border: none; padding: 0in; line-height: .25in;"This women's shelter was unique, in the way that it was a lot like an apartment building, that was rented to women in need and had high security for the safety of the people who lived there. The rent was pretty cheap, way cheaper than it would normally be, mostly because a lot of women that seek refuge can't afford rent the majority of the time. Allison couldn't when she first moved in, and lived on one of the lower levels of the building, where people shared rooms and had bunk beds. Now that she had a job, she could pay rent and live in one of the nicer rooms, that resembled a not so fancy hotel room space wise rather than an actual apartment. It was only one room, with a mini fridge (she had bought herself), one closet and one bathroom. The bathroom was pretty nice and she had even bought herself a dresser and a mirror from a thrift store she often went to for clothes. She had one window in her room, which led out to a fire escape and a metal staircase that led to the alleyway below./p  
p style="margin-bottom: .25in; border: none; padding: 0in; line-height: .25in;""Afternoon, Ally... you're home early from work." Natalie, a nice older woman that helped run the shelter since before she came here said with a warm smile and Allison nodded her head nervously,/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .25in; border: none; padding: 0in; line-height: .25in;""Yeah... some creep was getting handsy with me, so they let me go home early..."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .25in; border: none; padding: 0in; line-height: .25in;""Is that why that man walked you home?" Natalie asked curiously and Allison felt herself loosen up and start to feel playful and giddy,/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .25in; border: none; padding: 0in; line-height: .25in;""Yeah, I guess so. He was one of the only people in the place to stand up for me. He insisted on walking me home."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .25in; border: none; padding: 0in; line-height: .25in;""How sweet..." Natalie's attitude was always warm and welcoming. It reminded Allison of what her idea of a kind grandmother that always had something thoughtful or nice to say would be like. "Maybe you'll see him again?"/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .25in; border: none; padding: 0in; line-height: .25in;"Allison stopped dead in her tracks for a moment. Her overwhelming anxiety often engulfed her like the way the tide could easily wash someone out to sea and right, this was one of those moments. She kept her composer the best she could and nodded her head quickly, uttering a soft, "maybe..." before hopping up the stairs to her room./p  
p style="margin-bottom: .25in; border: none; padding: 0in; line-height: .25in;"Not only was her mind driving her crazy about stupid things, like a man she just met and didn't even really know, but everyone else seemed to as well. Tara, now Natalie... she had barely even caught his name before they parted ways. Allison gave a sigh and finally reached her door, opening it with her special key they gave her and stepping inside her apartment. She was a hopeless romantic... it was like every time she met a guy and felt something besides disdain, disgust or friendship for him she started to catch feelings. And she hated it. She hated how easily she fell for someone she didn't know, she hated that her brain couldn't wait to get to know someone and she hated not feeling in control of her own feelings. It burned her in a way most other things could never./p  
p style="margin-bottom: .25in; border: none; padding: 0in; line-height: .25in;"She walked over to an old radio that played cassettes she'd been given when she first moved in, and pressed play, smiling at what it started to belt out. Caleb had made her a mixed tape with 80s music on it, and I Ran by A Flock Of Seagulls happened to play out of all the songs that could've been played./p  
p style="margin-bottom: .25in; border: none; padding: 0in; line-height: .25in;"Allison walked to the bathroom with a smile, humming to herself and looked at herself in the mirror, looking at her face and nose. Unexpectedly, she felt her hair stand on end, as if something were off and got very self aware. Something was amiss and she knew it./p  
p style="margin-bottom: .25in; border: none; padding: 0in; line-height: .25in;"It was like someone had been there./p  
p style="margin-bottom: .25in; border: none; padding: 0in; line-height: .25in;"She placed her hands on the counter near the sink and felt her heartbeat start to go faster. Was someone still in her house?/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .25in; border: none; padding: 0in; line-height: .25in;"A bottle of shampoo on the floor had been knocked over, laying next to her black shower curtain and it wasn't because of her... a small puddle of the soap spilled on the floor and thinking ahead, she used the tip of her shoe to smear it around, so if there was an intruder in the house, they could slip if they came into the bathroom... or maybe she was overthinking things again. Like how her brain would work out escape plans for every building she entered incase of an emergency, like a fire./p  
p style="margin-bottom: .25in; border: none; padding: 0in; line-height: .25in;"What am I thinking? She thought to herself angrily. I'm just being paranoid... again. For the hundredth time this week-/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .25in; border: none; padding: 0in; line-height: .25in;"Without warning, someone jerked away the shower curtain on her tub and she screamed with terror, running away as fast as she could, out into her living room. Suddenly, there was a shout, a squeak and then a loud thump followed by silence after that. Allison felt her whole body tremble, and it was if there was an earthquake shaking and rattling her body so badly she almost couldn't keep her balance. Now there was a groan, a man's groan and quietly she crept towards the ajar bathroom door, hoping to see who it was so she could identify them if they got away somehow. She saw into the doorway, a man with short dark brown hair and blue eyes. His clothes were a bit odd, and they looked fancy... but fancy wasn't even a word she thought could fit the description. He rubbed his head with one hand and tried to prop his body up with the other, only using one of his feet to keep himself up. He suddenly looked up, and when he saw her, he tried to get up and run for her, but he gasped in pain before falling to the ground, his face rippling with pain./p  
p style="margin-bottom: .25in; border: none; padding: 0in; line-height: .25in;""Are you okay?" Allison asked and the man looked up at her, seeming very confused./p  
p style="margin-bottom: .25in; border: none; padding: 0in; line-height: .25in;""I think I twisted my ankle... I'm sorry, but you aren't weirded out that a strange man is in your apartment?"/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .25in; border: none; padding: 0in; line-height: .25in;"Allison felt herself scoff and leaned against the wall, eyeballing him suspiciously,/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .25in; border: none; padding: 0in; line-height: .25in;""I mean, yes, I'm weirded out, but you're hurt..."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .25in; border: none; padding: 0in; line-height: .25in;"She seemed cautious but also concerned for him, "...you aren't here to kill me, right?"/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .25in; border: none; padding: 0in; line-height: .25in;"The man's eyes were wide with curiosity and then sighed, shaking his head and propping himself up against the wall,/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .25in; border: none; padding: 0in; line-height: .25in;""No..."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .25in; border: none; padding: 0in; line-height: .25in;"Allison walked over to her bed, crouching and looking underneath it for something, "Well, take off that shoe and I can see what's wrong with your foot or ankle."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .25in; border: none; padding: 0in; line-height: .25in;""You aren't gonna call the police? Or rat me out to the other people in the building?" He asked and Allison sighed, pulling her fist aid kit out from under her bed,/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .25in; border: none; padding: 0in; line-height: .25in;""Let's just say, I know when someones lying and you weren't planning on killing me... and if you were planning to rob me, I don't have much, so you're kind of the one with bad luck, not me."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .25in; border: none; padding: 0in; line-height: .25in;""I wasn't gonna-" he started to protest and Allison cut him off,/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .25in; border: none; padding: 0in; line-height: .25in;""Sure buddy... the reason I'm not ratting you out, is because I have friends that have gotten into a pickle or two, so they decided to turn to stealing. One of my good friends tried to rob me once, and instead of putting them in jail, I helped them out and it completely turned their life around. So I've found that helping someone in need, is a lot better than doing what's expected of you and turning on them."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .25in; border: none; padding: 0in; line-height: .25in;"The man seemed amazed by what she had said. Like it had touched him or he had related to it in some way, and as she got her things ready, he had a new found respect for her./p  
p style="margin-bottom: .25in; border: none; padding: 0in; line-height: .25in;""Here, let me see." She picked up his foot and he sucked in air through his teeth fast, wincing at the pain it gave him./p  
p style="margin-bottom: .25in; border: none; padding: 0in; line-height: .25in;""Sorry..." Allison cringed and tried to be more gentle with him. After eyeballing it for a few moments, she smiled and gave him a happy nod,/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .25in; border: none; padding: 0in; line-height: .25in;""I think you just sprained it. Which is fine, you just need to maybe wrap it, give it some ice, and to not walk on it for a day or two."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .25in; border: none; padding: 0in; line-height: .25in;""But, I have to get back..." He paused for a moment, as if being careful not to say something he wasn't supposed to say and then continued, "... to work soon."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .25in; border: none; padding: 0in; line-height: .25in;""Well, call a cab then... because you aren't walking anywhere, anytime soon." Allison said sympathetically, and he shook his head./p  
p style="margin-bottom: .25in; border: none; padding: 0in; line-height: .25in;"Unwillingly, the man had stayed at Allison's house for about an hour now, both of them chatting casually back and forth. She was sipping on a juice box she had grabbed from her mini fridge and he had reluctantly taken one after she offered him one. She had even gotten out a deck of cards and the two of them were playing, the man eventually even becoming happier, despite his injured ankle./p  
p style="margin-bottom: .25in; border: none; padding: 0in; line-height: .25in;""So... why my apartment?" Allison asked and that put the man off in a way,/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .25in; border: none; padding: 0in; line-height: .25in;""What do you mean?"/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .25in; border: none; padding: 0in; line-height: .25in;"Allison rolled her eyes, taking a sip off her juice box, "I mean, out of all the places in Manhattan to rob, you choose my place... why?"/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .25in; border: none; padding: 0in; line-height: .25in;""I wasn't stealing and I'm not a thief." He seemed like he would start to get irritated if she kept implying he was trying to steal from her and she resisted the urge to roll her eyes again,/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .25in; border: none; padding: 0in; line-height: .25in;""Okayyyy? Then why were you in my apartment?"/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .25in; border: none; padding: 0in; line-height: .25in;"He was quiet for a moment, thinking about what he should say. Then he spoke,/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .25in; border: none; padding: 0in; line-height: .25in;""Have you ever heard of S.H.I.E.L.D?"/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .25in; border: none; padding: 0in; line-height: .25in;""Shield? Is that like a band or something?" Allison joked and he shook his head,/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .25in; border: none; padding: 0in; line-height: .25in;""No... you don't know what S.H.I.E.L.D is?"/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .25in; border: none; padding: 0in; line-height: .25in;""Nope, I guess not... why?" Allison seemed completely clueless as to what he was talking about and he seemed confused now./p  
p style="margin-bottom: .25in; border: none; padding: 0in; line-height: .25in;""S.H.I.E.L.D is a counter terrorism, special law enforcement agency. They sent me here to capture you and bring you to them... I don't see how you could be a threat if you don't even know what S.H.I.E.L.D is..."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .25in; border: none; padding: 0in; line-height: .25in;""Wait... am I on some sort of terrorist list? Am I wanted by the FBI or something?" Allison's eyes widened, looking worried now and the man shook his head gravely,/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .25in; border: none; padding: 0in; line-height: .25in;""No, the FBI has nothing on S.H.I.E.L.D... you're in some hot water little missy, and I don't know why..."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .25in; border: none; padding: 0in; line-height: .25in;"The air grew thick with anxiousness and Allison turned to him, looking serious now,/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .25in; border: none; padding: 0in; line-height: .25in;""Who are you?"/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .25in; border: none; padding: 0in; line-height: .25in;""I'd rather not say..."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .25in; border: none; padding: 0in; line-height: .25in;"Gears were turning in his head now. Why would S.H.I.E.L.D want anything to do with this timid anxious girl? She didn't seem like a terrorist, or a bad person. She just seemed rather confused and scared now that she knew what was going on./p  
p style="margin-bottom: .25in; border: none; padding: 0in; line-height: .25in;""Why do you live in a women's shelter?"/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .25in; border: none; padding: 0in; line-height: .25in;"Allison felt herself sigh and she walked over to the trash, throwing away her empty juice box. "...when I was eight, I disappeared from my home. I can't remember what happened to me, or even who my parents are. I was almost missing for ten years before someone found me on the side of a highway, scared out of my wits and running from some unknown thing."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .25in; border: none; padding: 0in; line-height: .25in;"The man from S.H.I.E.L.D was listening to her story intently,/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .25in; border: none; padding: 0in; line-height: .25in;""I couldn't even remember my name... over the years things have started to come back to me, like my first name and the year I was born. I still can't remember my family, or my mom and dad..."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .25in; border: none; padding: 0in; line-height: .25in;"That's when something clicked with him, and that's when he realized that something fishy might be going on. He looked up at the girl, and that's when he first realized how she really looked. She was not only anxious and timid, she looked tired and had dark circles under her eyes. Then he started to feel bad./p  
p style="margin-bottom: .25in; border: none; padding: 0in; line-height: .25in;""I guess you just gotta take whatever life throws at you and work with what you get. I have a good job, I don't have to pay much rent and I'm saving up for my own place." Allison sat on her bed and sighed,/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .25in; border: none; padding: 0in; line-height: .25in;""You don't have to stay here forever, you know... you can take me to SHIELD or whatever, I know I haven't done anything wrong so it's not like I'm in danger."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: .25in; border: none; padding: 0in; line-height: .25in;"He stayed quiet for a moment, thinking again, as quickly as he could. He didn't trust SHIELD... he worked for them, but they'd also done some shady stuff in the past, so he wasn't going to just hand this sweet girl over to the mercy of an organization that keeps most things top secret./p  
p style="margin-bottom: .25in; border: none; padding: 0in; line-height: .25in;""I can't keep SHIELD from coming for you... but I know a place you can stay while I try to get things sorted out."/p 


End file.
